AI-Personalised Marketing and Consumer Brand Loyalty: The Roles of Perceived Autonomy and Psychological Reactance

Artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled firms to personalise marketing communications, recommendations, pricing, timing, and service interactions at the individual consumer level. While such personalisation can enhance relevance and strengthen consumer–brand relationships, it can also raise concerns about surveillance and manipulation, potentially threatening consumers’ perceived freedom of choice and triggering psychological reactance. This conceptual paper develops an autonomy–reactance framework to explain the conditions under which AI-personalised marketing strengthens or weakens consumer brand loyalty. Drawing on psychological reactance theory, selfdetermination theory, the personalisation–privacy paradox, and consumer–brand engagement research, the framework proposes that perceived personalisation quality strengthens brand loyalty by enhancing perceived relevance and engagement. In contrast, perceived intrusiveness may weaken loyalty by reducing perceived autonomy and increasing psychological reactance.